Desktops forum: "turning off PC" = Good/Bad

I always leave mine on. Protected of course with a UPS and firewall software.
-Jim

There are two things to consider when deciding on whether or not to leave your computer on. The first is Windows related... that the Windows Operating Systems need to be shut off to recover 'misplaced' memory. Software programs, if not well written, will reserve memory space for their operations and will not release that reserved memory when the program terminates. The only way to recover this memory space is to restart Windows.
On the other side is physical. Everytime you shut down your computer, you allow it to cool. When you start the computer, it heats up. This heating and cooling causes stress on the computer's components. When a metal heats up it expands and conversely contracts when cooled.
Computers are engineered to take this effect into consideration, and typically are designed to take thousands of these cyclic stresses. BUT...no matter how you look at it, there are only so many cycles of heating and cooling that a computer can sucessfully survive. My point is that you damage your computer everytime you turn it on and off allowing it to cool.

What I recommend is to leave the computer on, and restart the computer once per week without allowing it to cool.

The only component of a madern PC that uses measureable electrical energy is the monitor. Set the monitor to automatically shut off after 30 minutes. This should satisfy all the 'green' people. Don't leave a screen saver on. That is a waste...

Hope this helps.

Bob

I have a server w/ linux and I will tell you, for running a personal server, I keep it on 24/7. The thing is though, it actually stays on and comes to w/o crashing, so don't try that with Windows.

I did a little research and found the following link. It has some interesting information and leads me to say, turn them off. Here is the link:

http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/wastemin/green_team/compenergy.html

I hope that this is useful to you and to the other readers.

It will do no harm to leave your PC on and will lengthen the life of your hard drive. This limits the thrashing the hard drive will have to do on power ups. Most PC's sold now,and for the last 10 years are okay to have this done. And it is also a good idea, if you want to conserve electricity to have your PC go into hibernation or sleep mode after a certain amount of time and also have it connected to a UPS or surge protector.

if you have the right cooling in your pc its not a problem leaving it on 247, but you may find that your system slows down after long periods, asdl conectins may also time out and a re boot will be needed to get a conectin agian

leaving it on wont hurt anything .. I ran a PenII 350 mhz with win98se for 4 yrs without turning it off except to reboot once every other day or to clean it. .. I am now running Pen 4 2.6 ghz with win xp and only turn it off to reboot .. My 2 children and I share the PC so I have all my scheduled tasks ie; defrag, virus scans etc run while I am sleeping that way we dont lose any computer time. the only precaution that needs to be taken is the need to have more then just a good firewall if you are using a braodband connection to keep out hackers and other little nastys from invading your machine

In the beginning (1981) PC's had no constantly moving parts. No hard drives, CPU fans, etc. Therefore the theory was to treat it like a light bulb, the less times you turn it on the longer it would last. Today's PCs have many moving parts like hard drives, CPU fans, etc. These parts wear and dust is sucked into the PC while running. Leaving a PC on connected to broadband is never a good idea. PCs that are left ON are at much higher risks from electrical power failures and lightning. Not too many things can hurt a computer when it's OFF. Also PCs perform self check routines during startup that can lead to early detection of upcoming problems. All in all, unless there is a valid reason, sleep with your PC and your car turned off. Later=>Giorgio

The PC OS since the 98SE is designed for the system to be on. The system will last longer if the system is left on and not left off. The problem with turning your system off is that you are constantly heating and cooling the components in the system of which eventually will crash and fail. You only have to reboot or warm boot your system when you have it on about once a week to flush out memory. This is why your OS is equiped with hybernation, sleep mode and safe mode, so that you do not have to turn off your system. Turning off the system also allows the number one killer of PC's to set on your system and that is dust. My PC's stay on 24/7 and I have not had a crash yet. My daughter turns hers off...I had to replace several parts on her system.

I never turn off my pc's, lap top or desk top. I do not think Ihave any more problems with them then ones that are turned off. I always leave the work pcs on also. Of course, if on vacation or business is closed, then all is turned off. You never turn off the server do you? What makes the difference.

Yes it saves power but the cost of maintenace and replacement will cost you far more in the long run. Now as to security disconnetc your network cable. No out side connection possible End of Story.

I have heard from different people on this subject many times over the years. I keep my home PC's on 24/7 connected to an UPS to guard against surges and have automatic shutdown software. At work we do the same, our PC's and servers are on 24/7, the only time we shut them down is when there is a scheduled power outage so the UPS's are not rundown. I believe as long as you have adequate ventilation for the processor(s) and other heat generating items, keeping it on will not harm it.

Unless you are using your desktop computer as a server, turn it off when not in use. Being a broadband user is more reason to turn your computer off. If your computer gets hit with a virus or becomes an open relay, it can't send anything out if it's turned off.

Leaving on the PC is NOT the end of the world or the
end of your PC.

Prior to PC's there were these things called Mainframes.

They were on ALL the time, most still are, in fact webservers are on all the time so that when you wake up in the middle of the night you can... check this out... Get you Email! ooooooo shock gasp!

Look get a battery backup with a surge protector, if you haven't already you need a typewriter not a computer. And leave the thing on. Its not like the WIN 3.1 days where you need a screen saver, worry about spiking this or that. Set you power settings in your control panel (if you are Win user) to put to sleep the hard disk and the monitor after X amount of time.

Why wait for the system to boot from cold, when you can
just wake it up with a keystroke or mouse move. Sooner or later some smart company will make the PC that behaves like a PDA and load the OS in a chip for instant on. Until then leave the thing on. If you are worried about hackers, get a Hardware Firewall (like you shouldn't have that as well!) and don't worry, its ONLY a machine.
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I've owned and used several computers and have used daily shutdowns on some work computers, leave it always on on home computers and combinations on most. Windows (I have XP home, ME, 98 SE) doesn't seem to be able to run more than a few days without self destructing. It becomes necessary to reboot or restart ususally daily. If a computer is not used daily, I shut it down until it's needed (three computers). The one I keep running goes into hybernate after 20 minutes and the monitor (17" LCD) shuts down. It's faster coming up than a reboot, and seems cooler.